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Article A CENTURY OF FREEMASONRY. ← Page 2 of 10 →
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A Century Of Freemasonry.
" That this Freemasonry originated in England , and was thence transplanted into other lands , is an assertion which has not been disproved by any since-discovered evidence . That French writers , however , should carp at this , is to be referred to a pardonable nationality , by which they would assume for then- own nation the acknowledged property of another . For there are many eases , without the bounds of Freemasonry , where one nation arrogates to itself the world-important movements oriinated b
g y another nation . If , therefore , those writers prove from Anderson ' s history ( very jejune indeed within itself ) , that Freemasonry went out from France to Britain , returning thence in due season , and then again going to Britain , and , finally , being re-introduced in the manner which has been affirmedwhen all this is proved , it is but an empty contention for facts which , in the course of seventeen centuries , may well have occurred under certain circumstances . . . . But those Avriters are , however , dumb , when they enter
upon those periods denominated as those of the Masons ; and , finally , tliey cannot allege anything whatever , beyond an allusion to the year 1688 ( still to be discussed ) , when the question of the re-introduction of true [ symbolical ?] Masonry into France is raised . The oldest date of any certainty is 1725 . " * We would cite these remarks simply to dissent from them , as far as the antiquity of symbolical theoretic Masonry is
concerned ; for that the idealization of the tools , the use of them to denote the moral virtues , is far more ancient than even the Craft itself would insist ( although scarcely of pre-Adamite origin , as some affirm ) , has , we think , been most indubitably proved , by Bro . the Rev . T . A . Buckley , in his dissertation on the " Golden Ass of Apuleius" published in a late number of the Magazine ;
, and the assertion is borne out by the fact , that Masonic marks have been recognized on the remains of the ancient Roman city of Corinium , now lately discovered near Cirencester . In a note , however , the words of an eloquent French writer will be found .
Let us , however , pass to the historical sections , of far greater importance for our present object than the theoretic or discursive portion of the Avork . The oldest reference to the time of the introduction of Freemasonry into France , is in the " Sceau Rompu , " 1745 , Avhere 1718 is asserted to be the earliest recognizable landmark for its
practice ; and the Abbe Robin says , in 1776 , that " there is no memorial of its origin in France remaining ; all that has been found does not go farther back than 1720 , and seems to have come from England . "
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Century Of Freemasonry.
" That this Freemasonry originated in England , and was thence transplanted into other lands , is an assertion which has not been disproved by any since-discovered evidence . That French writers , however , should carp at this , is to be referred to a pardonable nationality , by which they would assume for then- own nation the acknowledged property of another . For there are many eases , without the bounds of Freemasonry , where one nation arrogates to itself the world-important movements oriinated b
g y another nation . If , therefore , those writers prove from Anderson ' s history ( very jejune indeed within itself ) , that Freemasonry went out from France to Britain , returning thence in due season , and then again going to Britain , and , finally , being re-introduced in the manner which has been affirmedwhen all this is proved , it is but an empty contention for facts which , in the course of seventeen centuries , may well have occurred under certain circumstances . . . . But those Avriters are , however , dumb , when they enter
upon those periods denominated as those of the Masons ; and , finally , tliey cannot allege anything whatever , beyond an allusion to the year 1688 ( still to be discussed ) , when the question of the re-introduction of true [ symbolical ?] Masonry into France is raised . The oldest date of any certainty is 1725 . " * We would cite these remarks simply to dissent from them , as far as the antiquity of symbolical theoretic Masonry is
concerned ; for that the idealization of the tools , the use of them to denote the moral virtues , is far more ancient than even the Craft itself would insist ( although scarcely of pre-Adamite origin , as some affirm ) , has , we think , been most indubitably proved , by Bro . the Rev . T . A . Buckley , in his dissertation on the " Golden Ass of Apuleius" published in a late number of the Magazine ;
, and the assertion is borne out by the fact , that Masonic marks have been recognized on the remains of the ancient Roman city of Corinium , now lately discovered near Cirencester . In a note , however , the words of an eloquent French writer will be found .
Let us , however , pass to the historical sections , of far greater importance for our present object than the theoretic or discursive portion of the Avork . The oldest reference to the time of the introduction of Freemasonry into France , is in the " Sceau Rompu , " 1745 , Avhere 1718 is asserted to be the earliest recognizable landmark for its
practice ; and the Abbe Robin says , in 1776 , that " there is no memorial of its origin in France remaining ; all that has been found does not go farther back than 1720 , and seems to have come from England . "